A Twist in Time
by saniker
Summary: Rory recalls the first time she met Jess. She's the student and he's the teacher. Throughout the entire story, she learns about life, love, death, coping and how a twist of events can change everything.
1. Orientation Day Three

The first time I saw Jess Mariano, was the third day of orientation. Orientation days usually happen at the beginning of the school year and this is when the teachers have to introduce themselves and the course they are teaching.

It was the last orientation day and I was bored out of my mind waiting for the last teacher to come in and get the introduction over with already. Just as I was about to put my head down to take a nap, he walked in the classroom.

"Good morning class!"

He turned around and started writing his name on the board. From the way he dressed, you could tell that he lived alone. His long-sleeved green polo was all wrinkled up and it looked like it hadn't been ironed since the day it was purchased.

_Jess D. Mariano_

After scribbling his name on the board, he turned around with a bright smile and greeted us again.

"So, once again, good morning. Excuse my tardiness, I got lost finding my way here from another classroom. Uhm, anyway, my name is Jess and I'll be your second year History teacher."

He seemed to catch the attention of the class. Well, the girls anyway. What caught my attention were his eyes. They were big and kind of drooped down to the side. But other than that, I didn't really think much of him.

"So this year, we will be discussing the ancient civilizations all the way up to the modern age. This course is only 10 months so the pacing will be a little fast. We have a lot to cover and not that much time. But please, if you find it to be a little too fast, do not hesitate to ask any questions. If you don't understand a certain topic, tell me and I'll be glad to re-teach it. If after every session you're still having a difficult time, I schedule remedial classes and you can feel free to sit in. But uhm, other than that, are there any questions? About the subject? About the school year? Anything? If you want, you can ask personal questions."

After saying that, several girls raised their hands.

"Yes, uhm what's your name miss?" He said with a smile.

"My name's Louise"

"Louise. Okay, what's your question?"

"How old are you?"

"I'm 24 years old. Any other question?"

He pointed to Madeline and I honestly thought that those two were out to attack him like their prey.

"Yes miss."

"I'm Madeline and I was wondering if you could give like a brief background of you know…your life." She said with a huge grin and batting eyes,

"Oh, uh sure. Why not? After all we will be spending almost a year with each other. My name is Jess and this is my first time teaching at a private school so I'm not really used to the formality. But I do understand that the school requires that you call me Sir Jess. So yeah, you can call me Sir Jess, Sir Mariano, Sir Danes if you must. Danes is my middle name, that's what the D stands for. Uhm, what else? Oh yeah, I finished college a few years ago and I've been teaching since I was 20. But I'm currently taking up my masters…so I too am a student. I was originally a nursing student 'til I shifted to education and uh…that's it I guess."

In the corner of my eye, I could see Madeline and Louise whispering to each other. And I distinctly heard something along the lines of "…8 years apart not bad."

"So, I would like to get to know you guys as well, but we only have 2 more minutes 'til you're dismissed so we'll just catch up next meeting. In the meantime, you guys can go already. You're dismissed."

As my classmates stood up and walked out I noticed a whole bunch of them looking at him like a piece of meat. But I personally didn't really see him in that light. I almost completely ignored him on my way out and thought about how much burden would fall on me when all the girls in the class would ask for my homework just so they could get ahead and impress him. I rolled my eyes and I remember thinking that I honestly had no idea what the hell people saw in him. He wasn't _that _impressive.

Over the next few months, I would discover how **wrong **I was about him.


	2. And Ten Years Later

**Present Day**

Looking out this window, I realize how much has changed and how different everything is. I look out this window every morning and every time I do, I see something different. I notice a tree or a bush or something that I never knew was there to begin with. It's funny because I'm looking at the same view and yet, it always looks completely different to me. The window is located at the 20th floor of the building that I work in and the view I see is of the garden balcony directly below.

I know it might seem pointless telling you this but the window with the view reminds me of my life. I look back at my life all the time and think about everything that's happened. Sometimes a memory becomes clearer to me or sometimes, I can remember details that I missed out on or completely forgot. But either way, I'm still looking at the same past. It's still my past, my distant memories.

Well what's the point anyway of trying to live in the past when you've got a whole future ahead of you? If I spend too much time thinking about my past, I'll never really live in the present or experience the future. But, that's not to say that I don't think about _him _on occasion. I still do, in fact, I always do. I wonder where he is, what he's doing, how he looks. I also wonder how he'd react if he ever saw me again and would he be proud?

Then, after thinking about that, I begin to smile. Like I'm back in high school.

"Dr. Gilmore?" A nurse behind me asks

"Yes, Kayla?"

"Your next patient is here."

"Thank you. I'll be out in a minute. But, please tell them to head to my office already."

"Yes, Dr. Gilmore."


	3. The Day It All Began

I felt really groggy today. I didn't even feel like going to school, which by the way, rarely happens. But, as fate would have it…excuse me, let me rephrase that. But, as Chilton would have it, we must submit extra credit reports/projects to 2 subjects before the end of each session. And, it so happens that today is the second to the last day of session 1 and I haven't submitted any extra credit reports.

Oh, in case you're wondering, every session has 4 weeks and every term has 2 sessions. And by the end of each session, we have to submit the extra credit, which has now become a requirement and is 30% of 50% of my final grade. Which, if you think about it is still pretty big.

I came in early today to see if I could talk to Sir Jess about submitting extra credit for his subject because it's probably the easiest one to do. But as I was sitting outside the faculty room waiting for him, I started to fall asleep.

I don't know how long I was out but the next thing I knew, someone was shaking me telling me to wake up. As I opened my eyes, I saw Sir Jess shaking my right shoulder.

"Miss Gilmore? Class starts in 5 minutes. Are you okay?"

"Oh! Oh my god how long have I been like this?"

"I don't know. You were already here when I got in. So, is there something I can help you with?"

"Oh yeah. I wanted to ask you if I could submit a paper about an ancient civilization. For extra credit?"

"Oh okay. Sure. But miss Gilmore, I will be expecting a lot because papers are very easy to do. It will be harder to get a high grade. So if I were you, I'd create something more…visual. Or, write one hell of a paper."

"Hmm. Okay, thank you Sir. I should be getting to class now."

"No, problem."

_Crap! There goes my shot at getting an easy A. God. Does it really have to be something visual? Why can't I just write a good paper? Ugh, so much for ruining my mood! Thanks a lot Sir._

I got to my English class a minute before the bell rang and I took my seat. All I kept thinking about was how much it annoyed me that I couldn't just write a damn essay about the Babylonians or something. I don't know why but it really bothered me. I missed almost the whole class because I was worried and angry about the extra credit. The whole day was practically like that, I was racking my brain for a really great idea. But then, I'd realize how hard it would be to execute, leaving me frustrated.

Lunch wasn't any better. I had Paris following me asking question after question about school work and the paper and why I was so upset. I was tempted to just leave her and go to a corner where she couldn't spot me.

After lunch I had World History and I wasn't very excited to get to class so I just lazily walked to class, taking my time. I finally got to the classroom but class had already started.

"Good afternoon Ms. Gilmore."

"Oh, afternoon Sir."

"Please take your seat, we were just about to get started."

I rolled my eyes a bit and sat down right next to Paris. I tried to concentrate on the board because if I had concentrated on him and what he was saying, I'd just end up worrying again about that damn extra credit. And what's the big deal anyway? It's not like I _have _to submit it for his subject right? I have other subjects, but then again, if I don't, he'll just think that I'm hustling him. Damnit.

"So today we'll discuss the ancient civilization of Egypt. Now, like other civilizations, they had their own belief system. For starters, they believed in many gods and goddesses like Amon-Re, Osiris, Isis, Horus etc. They also believed in the afterlife…"

Half an hour had passed and I was focused on the lesson completely until…

"…these priests studied the skies and recorded the movement of the 'havenly' [heavenly] bodies."

I turned my head to the right slightly towards Paris, who had already been looking at me, and I let out a soft chuckle.

"Did I hear that right?" Paris asked

"I think he meant heavenly." I said.

We looked down at our books and started to quietly laugh. I tried so hard to contain my laughter but it's so much harder to laugh when you're not supposed to. I tried but suddenly I let out a loud laugh.

And suddenly, everyone in the room started looking at me.

"Ms. Gilmore. Is there something you'd like to share with the class?"

"N-nnn-othing s-ssir" I giggled.

"Okay good. Let's continue."

I managed to stop thinking about it and concentrate on the class again.

When the bell rang, Paris and I stood up and smiled widely at each other.

"Come on, let's go!" Paris said on the brink of laughing again.

"Alright, alright." I said.

As we walked towards the door, Sir Jess stopped us and asked, "Paris, Rory may I speak to you for a moment?"

_Oh my god. _I thought. I really couldn't imagine what he had to say.

"Yes sir, what is it?" Paris politely asked.

"Well, and don't take this the wrong way, but I noticed that you and Rory always seem to be laughing or giggling or smiling about something. And it's not just today."

It's true. For the past 3 weeks, Paris and I have been laughing at him because he has a thick accent on some words and other words he mispronounces. For instance, France he pronounces as Fr-uh-nce. Babylon he pronounces as Bay-bee-lon. He also says Summer-eeon instead of Sumerian. Well, you get the point.

"I'm sorry Sir." Paris said.

"It's okay. It's just that I'm wondering what it is that I'm doing wrong. Am I giving wrong information or am I saying something wrong? Because I know that I have some speech impediments because I was raised in a different part of town."

As he was rambling about being raised somewhere else, I was getting irritated because he was holding us up and Paris and I were already late for the Franklin newspaper meeting.

"No sir, it's not you, okay? Paris and I laugh all the time it's just natural. You can ask any other teacher." I said

_Lie. It was just him._

"No, I mean I always see you smiling and giggling and I never understand why,"

"Really, this isn't about you." I said

"I just want to know what's up."

"Nothing! We're just really like that." I said half smiling, half irritated.

"Okay. Okay It's just that I'm a new teacher, you know? I'm just trying to warm up to you guys."

"Yeah, okay we get that."

"Okay."

"Again, we're so sorry Sir. It won't happen again." Paris said.

"It's okay Paris."

"Are you done?" I asked.

When I said that, Sir gave me a confused and hurt look.

"Yeah. I'm done."

"Thank you for your time" Paris said

"Bye. Paris, let's go we're gonna be late."

And with that, I walked out of there. I was in complete rage.

_I'm so mad at him about everything! I can't bare to think about it because never in my life has a teacher taken me aside to talk to me about my 'behavior in class'. I'm usually the good one! And who does that guy think he is anyway?UUUGGHH!_


End file.
